rut FOUNTAIN OF AHMED I : CONSTANTlNOPIvE) 



This fountain is the masterpiece of the many scattered over the city of Constantinople, 

 but is typical of them all. That "unrivaled decoration of plain surfaces which forms the 

 chief glory of Mohammedan art" here reaches its perfection. Each inscription has a hidden, 

 as well as an apparent, meaning. On one line, for instance, there is an ingenious contrivance 

 of characters arranged so that by adding the numeral value of successive letters one finds 

 the j'ear when the fountain was completed. 



of poles between shoulder and shoulder, 

 from which bales may be slung, almost 

 all the fetching- and carrying of a town 

 nearly as large as Greater New York 

 and very much hillier. 



Carts do exist, drawn generally by 

 water buffalo — slow, black, hairy crea- 

 tures, with great outcurving horns — 

 that can pull twice as heavy a load as 

 oxen. There are also boats of various 

 quaint kinds that perform a deliberate 

 kind of express service. A more primi- 

 tive one is carried on by private messen- 

 gers, one to a district, who go back and 

 forth between two fixed points ; but 

 hanidls have to load the cart or the boat 

 and help the messenger when he has too 

 man_v parcels to carry. And they have 

 hitherto been able to defeat every at- 

 tempt to establish a real delivery service 

 in Constantinople. 



THE FREIGHT HANDLERS 



The custom-house hamals are only a 

 branch, if the most prosperous, of a large 

 family. They handle all the freight that 

 enters or leaves the custom-house by 

 land. Cab-drivers and an inferior sort 

 of porters are allowed to take passen- 

 gers' baggage. Similarly all other kinds 

 of transport and delivery are divided up 

 between other categories of porters. The 

 great majority of hamals belong to sub- 

 guilds, stationed in every quarter of the 

 town. 



The members are Turks of Asia 

 Minor, more peaceable than their Kurd- 

 ish cousins and otherwise of more sa- 

 vory repute. By immemorial custom it is 

 one of their functions to be night watch- 

 men. People engage them to guard their 

 houses, with perfect confidence that 



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